Four weeks ago I travelled to Manchester. On Friday evening I was booked on the 18:40 Euston to Manchester Piccadilly with a first class advance ticket booked on the Virgin website and costing £72. On arriving at Euston at about 18:05, the station was closed owing to a member of the public having fallen from an overbridge at Wembley.
I checked National Rail and Virgin’s website and Twitter, which we’re recommending that passengers not travel and use their tickets the next day. I did not have that option, but noting that Virgin tickets were being honoured on LNER, TPE, WMT, EMR, and Northern, I walked to Kings Cross where I joined the 18:33 to Bradford Forster Square, intending to change at Leeds onto a TPE service.
The LNER train was extremely heavily crowded and whilst I did secure a seat, first class was entirely declassified and no meal or drink service was offered as the train was too busy for the trolley to get through. I did manage to get a sandwich and water from the galley after an hour or so.
The LNER guard was helpful and pointed out we were liable to miss the connection at Leeds and to instead get one at Doncaster. I duly alighted at Doncaster along with most of the train and we piled onto the 20:42 service to Manchester Piccadilly. I could not get through the train to first class but did manage to get in a standard seat. I arrived at 22:09, 77 minutes after my scheduled arrival time.
On the return journey, the 17:35 on the Sunday from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston, the two preceding trains had been cancelled. I held a first advance at £52 and first class was once again declassified, this time because of the non-availability of catering staff and overcrowding. At my request the guard endorsed my ticket accordingly, and he came through first class later saying that passengers could claim the value of weekend first back from Virgin as compensation. This is £25, which conveniently is the same as the difference in value between the advance ticket I held and the corresponding tier in standard class.
I lodged a delay repay claim for £72 for the outbound journey and a customer service case for £25 for the downgrade. A few days later the automated DelayRepay system emailed me and said I would get a £36 refund, which duly arrived on the card I had paid with. A subsequent check of Realtimetrains revealed that the 18:40, 18:57 and 19:00 services had been cancelled and the 19:20 service had run on time. This would, had I been on it, have got me to Manchester under an hour late, which is, I suppose, why it paid out 50%. Another day later I got a response to the DelayRepay claim saying “we think we’ve already paid your claim but reply if you need assistance”, so I replied explaining the journey I had taken and asking for the extra £36.
Neither this nor the downgrade claim have received any reply despite follow-ups. I am concerned that Virgin may be “running down the clock” until the end of their franchise in a couple of weeks’ time and it may be difficult to pursue them after this. I must confess I am not sure how the mechanics of a franchise transfer affect claims such as this. Is it worth sending a letter before action and in the extreme case taking county court action, or will Virgin Trains (or West Coast Trains Ltd.) be a valueless shell at 00:01 on 8 December?
If you’ve read this far, thank you, and apologies for the prolix nature of the post.
I checked National Rail and Virgin’s website and Twitter, which we’re recommending that passengers not travel and use their tickets the next day. I did not have that option, but noting that Virgin tickets were being honoured on LNER, TPE, WMT, EMR, and Northern, I walked to Kings Cross where I joined the 18:33 to Bradford Forster Square, intending to change at Leeds onto a TPE service.
The LNER train was extremely heavily crowded and whilst I did secure a seat, first class was entirely declassified and no meal or drink service was offered as the train was too busy for the trolley to get through. I did manage to get a sandwich and water from the galley after an hour or so.
The LNER guard was helpful and pointed out we were liable to miss the connection at Leeds and to instead get one at Doncaster. I duly alighted at Doncaster along with most of the train and we piled onto the 20:42 service to Manchester Piccadilly. I could not get through the train to first class but did manage to get in a standard seat. I arrived at 22:09, 77 minutes after my scheduled arrival time.
On the return journey, the 17:35 on the Sunday from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston, the two preceding trains had been cancelled. I held a first advance at £52 and first class was once again declassified, this time because of the non-availability of catering staff and overcrowding. At my request the guard endorsed my ticket accordingly, and he came through first class later saying that passengers could claim the value of weekend first back from Virgin as compensation. This is £25, which conveniently is the same as the difference in value between the advance ticket I held and the corresponding tier in standard class.
I lodged a delay repay claim for £72 for the outbound journey and a customer service case for £25 for the downgrade. A few days later the automated DelayRepay system emailed me and said I would get a £36 refund, which duly arrived on the card I had paid with. A subsequent check of Realtimetrains revealed that the 18:40, 18:57 and 19:00 services had been cancelled and the 19:20 service had run on time. This would, had I been on it, have got me to Manchester under an hour late, which is, I suppose, why it paid out 50%. Another day later I got a response to the DelayRepay claim saying “we think we’ve already paid your claim but reply if you need assistance”, so I replied explaining the journey I had taken and asking for the extra £36.
Neither this nor the downgrade claim have received any reply despite follow-ups. I am concerned that Virgin may be “running down the clock” until the end of their franchise in a couple of weeks’ time and it may be difficult to pursue them after this. I must confess I am not sure how the mechanics of a franchise transfer affect claims such as this. Is it worth sending a letter before action and in the extreme case taking county court action, or will Virgin Trains (or West Coast Trains Ltd.) be a valueless shell at 00:01 on 8 December?
If you’ve read this far, thank you, and apologies for the prolix nature of the post.
